Efforts underway to restart controversial Chinese dam in Burma

The Chinese-backed Myitsone mega-dam project has long been controversial in Burmese politics. With a new government in power the Chinese are lobbying hard to see it restarted.

Senin, 01 Agus 2016 14:01 WIB

Myitsone, Kachin State, Burma, where there are plans to construct a hydro-power dam. (Photo: Banyol Mon)

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The Chinese-backed Myitsone mega-dam project has long been
controversial in Burmese politics.

The project was suspended by former president Thein Sein –
but with the new government in power the Chinese are lobbying hard to see it restarted.

Banyol Mon traveled to Kachin to find out more.

These preschool students here in
Kachin state are practicing a song with their teacher.

They sing the words: “These are eyes to see… these are ears to
hear… this is the brain to think… I want to be educated so that I can take care
of my parents.”

With the help of a civil society
group, the school re-opened three years ago after Myitsone Dam project was
halted.

In
the nearby village of Tang Hpre, 72-year-old Sein War Htu has just returned
home with her children.

Her
family was forced out of their home in 2010, to make way for the new dam, and
for years they have been living in a resettlement village. It’s so good to be
home, she says.

“Everybody
can make a living here. Some people cut bamboo, some cut trees, some go
hunting, some go fishing and other become farmers,” Sein War Htutells me.

When I spoke to grandmother Sein War
Htu, she told me they couldn’t farm in the resettlement villages.

When I asked her why she said the
earth was barren rock, and nothing would grow in the soil.

Fifty-year-old, Ja Hkawn, a mother
of eight children, was among the more than 10,000 residents relocated due to
the dam project.

Those who refused were arrested and
sent to jail.

“We didn’t want to move but we had
no choice. We felt sad to leave our old place behind,” Ja Hkawng says.

“As many people started moving, the
school was also relocated to new resettlement village, so all of us had to
move. We just prayed that one day the project would be stopped and we would be
able to return home.

For those who relocated, there was some
compensation, but it wasn’t enough, Ja Hkawn continues.

“We lost so much. Our plantations and
farmland was destroyed because of gold mining after we moved. Now, we are
worried the work of Myitsone dam project will start again. And we are worried
that we will have to move again,” says Ja Hkawng.

The Myitsone Dam project is joint
venture between China Power Investment, or CPI, the Burmese government, and a
Burmese company called Asia World.

The project was heavily criticized
when it started, leading to massprotests,
and ultimately to president Thein Sein halting it.

But now with the new Aung San Suu
Kyi led government in power, the Chinese ambassador and Chinese firms are
lobbying people in Myitsone to support it, once again.

Li
Guang Hua is a spokesperson for the China Power Investment cooperation, and
argues the dam will be positive for Burma.

“Burma
needs a huge amount of electricity. We can get electricity from hydropower
cheaply. Our priority is to supply energy to Burma. We also have a plan to construct a road,
which is 600 km long in Kachin state. This is good thing,” Li Guang Hua
commented.

Yet
despite the PR efforts on the ground, the people of Kachin strongly oppose the
dam.

At this demonstration the people of
Kachin are demanding the Irrawaddy river be kept as it is. And those who were
forced out should be allowed to safely return home. Many are still living in
the resettlement villages even though they want to return home.

“People have been protesting against
the project because they feel their lives are in danger,” says Tu Ja, chairman
of Kachin’s State Development Party.

He continued, “If you ask whether we
need electricity. Yes, we do need electricity. But the problem is the place
where they are going to construct the dam site is untouchable. If the dam is built
then those who live along the river, will face an uncertain situation. That’s
why we can’t support it.”

It’s unclear how the NLD government
will handle the dam issue.

But party spokesperson, Win Htein
says they have the interests of Burmese people in mind.

He tells me that it all depends on
the people of Kachin, and whether they want the project.

But not everyone is convinced. Tsa
Ji, the founder of the Kachin Development Networking Group, has his doubts.

“We have been asking the NLD,
including Aung San Suu Kyi when she was here, but we didn’t get a clear answer.
And we are worried the dam project will start again because the government is not
answering people’s concerns,” Tsa Ji says.

While millions have been spent on
the project so far it’s unclear whether the project will resume.